OT- Tigers acquire Wilson Betemit

Tiger's acquire Wilson Betemit from the Royals for prospects Antonio Cruz and Julio Rodriquez. Looks as though Mr. Inge's time could be coming to an end. Solid deal, nothing too special, they still need a pitcher but on paper this looks like a solid rental.

This is a very solid pickup. He can be a solid contributor at the bottom of the lineup. No Aramis Ramirez, but with our offense, we don't necessarily need a big bat. Now let's get a pitcher. I will still pray for Ubaldo Jimenez.

Tigers need to get over the (stupid) conventional wisdom that you need to have at least one lefty in the rotation. This scrub who is getting his cup of coffee tonight, Dwayne Below, is a lefty to no one's suprirse. That seems to be all Leyland and DD will consider for the fifth starter right now.

Actually they are doing what is called showcasing your talent. They bring up a minor league prospect who is doing well to showcase them against the big boys as a bargaining chip in a trade to get a solid vet. It's a solid move. You may take a loss tonight (usually pitchers coming up actually do quite well due to no scouting on them so might even be a win), but you have teams interested in your young guys. Happens all the time. No matter what anybody thinks DD and Leyland have a pretty good handle on how to run/manage a baseball team.

I'd love to hear your reason why the Tigers have netted zero titles in the weak AL Central despite having the highest payroll in the division in aggregate over the past four seasons with Leyland/DD's supposedly steady hand at the wheel.

Injuries? Things happen in baseball. You pull a groin and you miss 14 games. Leyland doesn't go out and play the game. He doesn't throw the pitches. He doesn't turn double plays. He manages and if you know the game you know he is actually pretty damn good at what he does. I am not intending to be snarky with this response at all. Baseball is a funny thing. It takes just like a woman.

Leyland fills out the card and is notorious for not putting the best lineup he has on the field (just from this season: giving way too many chances to Raburn and Inge, consistently hitting Don Kelly second at one point and keeping Avila buried in the order).

He has tapped his inner-National Leaguer to tinker, becoming the antithesis of a good Moneyball-style manager, and has rested players to a ridiculous degree, something that has never paid dividends for him as second-half collapses have become the norm since he arrived here (2006 was not immune to this, as chokejobs at the end of the regular season and postseason gave away titles to the Twins in the division and of course to the St. Louis Cardinals, the worst World Series champion in the history of the game). His decisions with the pitching staff have been questionable at best, often pulling thriving starters too soon (ex: Porcello with a one-hitter after 85 pitches) and leaving struggling relievers in too long (ex: countless games from the Todd Jones era).

Aside from last season, where their horrendous organizational depth was exposed, the Tigers have not been victims of an abnormally harsh injury bug and your "baseball is a funny thing," line could be used to apologize for any losing manager (which in 19 years as a skipper, Leyland's record has shown him to be) ever.

Dombrowski? To balance out some of the good moves he has made, he has saddled the organization with immovable contracts to the likes of Brandon Inge (twice), Ryan Raburn, Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson. Illitch has to pay a pretty penny in the free agency/trade markets to stay competitive with DD's inability to develop young Latin talent as well as his futility in the amatuer draft, where he has drafted just ONE legit major league positional player (Granderson) in his nine years as team president.

"horrible" lineup card filling job, the Tigers offense is still 4th in batting average (.264), 6th in OBP (.331), 7th in slugging (.414), and in the most important all-encompasing offensive stat of all, they are 5th in wOBA (.327). Go freaking figure.

I think it's fairly obvious that my reply was not to his thought what the Tigers were doing with Below, but rather a response to his comment that Leyland and Dombrowski knew how to run a baseball team despite their consistently disappointing results in Detroit.

that in Leylands tenure in Detroit, only 5 teams in MLB have more wins than Detroit? One of them happens to be the Twins. Think that might have anything to do with the lack of division titles? Yeah, probably does, right?

Well seeing as a certain team(Braves) has the 4th best record in baseball that NL East comment is moronic. Also if the last place team in the NL East played in the central with the same record they would be only 4 games out. And if you want to go to the past the Braves also got a WC last year and the year before that there were three 86+ win teams in the division. So yeah, your comment is fairly wrong.

Umm where did I say the AL Central was a weak division?(which if it's not weak per se it's probably more middle of the pack compared to baseball as a whole) I was responding to the comment about the Phillies being the only team in the NL East and I did so with many facts(Braves record the last two years, Braves, Marlins, Phillies all having same or greater number of wins in 162 games as the Twins Tigers in 08)

This excuses the franchise from never being able to top the standings in a group of five just once (which is something even freaking Cleveland has done) over that time period?

What is funny to me is that you hold up five teams in MLB having better records than the Tigers since 2006 as a great accomplishment when it is, in fact, fairly consistent with what one expect given payroll numbers over the same period.

Leyland/DD apologists are defined largely by the low expectations they have come to have for the team due to all the losing that preceded their arrival, ignoring the massive difference in Illitch's spending that came after the NHL capped how much of his fortune he could spend on the Wings.

we didn't win a bunch of Central titles like Minnesota. Let me ask you...since Leyland took over, how many teams from our division have been to the World Series? Answer..1. The Tigers. The only other team from our division to appear in the World Series in this millenium was the White Sox in 2005. We are so quick to bitch and moan about the Tigers, yet here the Twins are with all these freaking Central titles...what do they have to show for it? Nah, let's just go back to the times where we lost 100 games every freaking season. Man, seriously, i'm 24 years old. All I ever asked for all my life was a competitive team. I waited from the time i was 8 until was 19 years old just to see a team with so much as a .500 record (2006) I finally got it. Beggers can't be choosers. If the team doesn't win the title...so f'ing what. Just enjoy the run and stop acting like a bunch of spoiled Yankees fans.

So we're spoiled because we expect the team to perform like a 105 million dollar team should and not fall apart in the second half? Maybe even make the post-season here and there? The argument of being tied for the lead in AL pennants within the AL Central in the past decade does nothing for me. Seeing your team playing post-season baseball is a great feeling, something I'm sure we would all like to experience more often. What happens when or if they get there, happens; at least everyone gets to see some meaningful contests.

2006 was nice but it should be a foundation for bigger and better things, not the modern pinnacle of the Tigers franchise.

We made the world series and were literally 1 game away from the playoffs twice (once?) all in the last 5 years. Is that not good? Hold on, I will ask the Cubs fans if that is acceptable... They say it would be fun. Pittsburgh and Reds fans also agree.

Face it, we aren't the Yankees. If we make the playoffs a couple times per decade i am quite pleased. It is the way the sport is now. It's big market and a couple small market teams in per year. I for one still love baseball.

The difference is that we are not Chicago nor Pittsburgh. Illitch is willing to shell out cash to build a consistant winner but Dombrowski can't utilize the money correctly. The Tigers are handcuffed by bad contracts. With the financial comfort Detroit has in getting players, the Tigers should win or come close to winning the division every year. Instead, they haven't won it in the time I've been alive.

I'm tired of blowing games in idotic fashion (a la last night, David Purcey can't throw a strike and we drop one to lowly Oakland) and even more tired of rolling into the all-star break in first place and collapsing during the second half. All I ask is for a GM to assemble, or come close to assembling, the best team he can with the money he's given. If Dombrowski did that then we would have a few more banners at Comerica Park.

Illitch is willing to shell out cash to build a consistant winner but Dombrowski can't utilize the money correctly.

True and then false. We just pay for our mistakes more thatn say, The Yankees or Red Sox (which, like duh)

The Tigers are handcuffed by bad contracts.

See above: every team has bad contracts we just get hurt by them more than big market teams.

With the financial comfort Detroit has in getting players, the Tigers should win or come close to winning the division every year.

In a perfect world yes. In the real world this is just not true. Injuries, bad years, etc. happen in baseball. Look at the Twins this year.

Instead, they haven't won it in the time I've been alive.

I hate to say this, but you will grow up and realize that this is one of the things that makes baseball great. When you do win a WS it is fucking epic. And the parties in Detroit are lifetime memories.

I'm tired of blowing games in idotic fashion (a la last night, David Purcey can't throw a strike and we drop one to lowly Oakland)

It happens. 162 games gives you plenty of time to make up for those.

and even more tired of rolling into the all-star break in first place and collapsing during the second half.

Could be the players since it happens every single season. Could be the players on the other teams simply don't wear down like ours do. It isn't as simple as blaming Leyland. I am sure he doesn't want to lose in the second half.

All I ask is for a GM to assemble, or come close to assembling, the best team he can with the money he's given.

Cabrera and Verlander? That is enough (with proper supporting cast) to get you there. I am not being sarcastic, that is enough. We just have to get lucky a few years and have the supporting cast do its job.

If Dombrowski did that then we would have a few more banners at Comerica Park.

He has been here for like 5 years and we went to the WS omce and almost went to the playoffs twice. IN HIS 5 YEARS HERE. It'll happen.

End fisking? HAHAHAHA. You just completed a total DERPfest, exposing how little you follow the organization.

Dombrowski has been here five years? He was hired in 2002. Look it up. We "almost got back to the playoffs twice"? Name the years. 2009 and ... uhhh ... DERP! 2009 was the only year we seriously threatened again in September.

Love the "but but but ... they're big markets" meme, as if Detroit is the Green Bay of baseball. It's quite obvious you have never seen a MLB payroll list in your life.

I hate to say this, but you will grow up and realize that this is one of the things that makes baseball great. When you do win a WS it is fucking epic. And the parties in Detroit are lifetime memories.

Hasn't His Dudeness stated several times on this board that he is a current UM student? Yet now he is telling stories about how great the parties in '84 were?

Either he's a very old undergrad or someone is not telling the truth about themselves...

For someone who loves baseball, you don't seem to know jackshit about current trends.

Feast on this: 19 franchises have been to the postseason since 2007 and the Tigers, with a nearly top-five payroll in aggregate over that time period, are NOT one of them. Is that cool with you? Apparently so. Because, you know, "we aren't the Yankees."

It is obvious that most of you are very casual Tiger fans who don't care a great deal what happens to them.

It seems to me the one truly ironic thing in this debate is you calling someone else arrogant. The way you argue, you expect there could possibly be no other POV than yours and that everyone else is an "apologist," or something.

I like it. I hate it for Inge, but I did say I think the lineup needed some shoring up and Betemit can hit second or hit eighth, which is where we needed to see improvement. Boesch batting second, I can't see that as a long-term thing.

This is a good pick up considering how bad Inge has been. Betemit is a pretty poor fielder but his bat is enough of an upgrade to make up for that. He strikes out a lot but gets on base at a decent rate. Over the course of the rest of the season, Betemit could very well provide the Tigers with an extra win over what they would've gotten with Inge.